Three charged in killing

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 5:49 PM

When a Lafourche Parish resident from Mexico got into a pickup truck with a man and two women over the weekend, he had no idea of their intention to rob him or the violent turn things would take, Terrebonne detectives said.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

When a Lafourche Parish resident from Mexico got into a pickup truck with a man and two women over the weekend, he had no idea of their intention to rob him or the violent turn things would take, Terrebonne detectives said.Sergio Castellano, 22, 238 222nd St., Golden Meadow, met the trio at a Houma bar Saturday night, Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said.The three lured him to their truck with the promise of “female companionship,” then the man shot Castellano as they were driving, Larpenter said.“We believe the initial plan was to rob” Castellano, Larpenter said. All three have been arrested and are charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and obstruction of justice, police said.Castellano moved to Lafourche Parish four years ago and has been working here on a visa ever since, Terrebonne sheriff's Capt. Dawn Foret said. U.S. Customs identified Castellano by his fingerprints.Troy Jackson, 26, 4774 N. Bayou Black Drive, is accused of actually shooting Castellano, detectives said.Ciegie Cheramie, 25, of Ovett, Miss., was the first arrested after deputies heard Sunday morning that a woman was in east Houma with a dead body in her car, the Sheriff's Office said. Deputies found her, but discovered that Castellano's body had been discarded Sunday morning on Bayou Sale Road, which runs between Cocodrie and Dulac. Detectives found his body, covered with weeds a few feet off the road that afternoon.

The third person charged is Brandy Perdue, 18, 274 Meadows Drive, Destrehan. St. Charles Parish deputies found Jackson and Perdue, who are boyfriend and girlfriend, at Perdue's mother's St. Charles home Monday, Larpenter said. They were questioned and arrested.Detectives say all three of them intended to rob Castellano, which makes them all guilty of murder too, Larpenter said.

“They're all considered murderers, just like the guy that pulled the trigger, due to the fact that they're in the commission of a felony, of an armed robbery,” the sheriff said.He compared it to two robbers who go into a store. If one of them has a gun and fatally shoots the cashier, both robbers are automatically charged with murder, he said.“All they (prosecutors) have to prove is the intent to rob,” Larpenter said.When asked if the “female companionship” they offered referred to sex, Larpenter said he “wouldn't go that far,” but declined to offer details. “They were looking for a victim. It didn't matter who it was,” Larpenter said.Larpenter asked that anyone with information about the case call the Sheriff's Office at 876-2500.Cheramie is in the Terrebonne Parish jail in lieu of a $1 million bond. A judge had not set bond for Jackson and Perdue as of this morning, deputies said.Cheramie told her father and half-sister that she was coming to Terrebonne Parish to visit her 5-year-old son, who lives with his father since their divorce, family members said. They both said they discouraged her from making the trip.“I know she kind of ran with a rough crowd down there,” said her half-sister Jonnah Walters, 23, also of Ovett.This is the second murder in Terrebonne Parish this year. Bernard Baker, 29, was shot several times Jan. 26 during an attempted robbery in Schriever and later died at the hospital, the Sheriff's Office said.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.